You might well recall the basic elements of the salacious scandal that toppled Jerry Falwell Jr.’s reign as arguably the most powerful evangelical in the country, with Falwell and his wife Becki getting involved in some sort of ongoing “throuple” relationship with a Miami pool boy. But as we’re reminded in the wildly entertaining Hulu documentary “God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty,” there was a whole lot more to the story.
The skilled and versatile veteran director Billy Corben is a native of South Florida and he has consistently mined his home state for fast-paced, visually “popping” films that often play like non-fiction versions of Scorsese’s work, from the “Cocaine Cowboys” docs to “The U” and “The U Part 2” on ESPN to last year’s “537 Votes,” which revisited the 2000 U.S. president election in Florida. With “God Forbid,” Corben serves up a neon potpourri of slick visuals, quick cuts, clever re-creation techniques, needle drops such as “Jesus Piece” by The Game, the use of archival footage and sit-down interviews to tell the incredible but true story of one of the most stunning sex/religious/political scandals in of this century. (And let’s face it, that’s saying a lot.)
